Re: Microsoft extends XP downgrade rights date by six months
Frank wrote:
> John John (MVP) wrote:
>
>> Frank wrote:
>>
>>> Plato wrote:
>>>
>>>> the granter of sina wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Microsoft is sending some very confusing signals about Windows
>>>>> Vista - the
>>>>> latest of which it issued via a statement on October 3.
>>>>>
>>>>> The Register reported on October 2 that Microsoft was going to
>>>>> extend again
>>>>> the date until which PC makers would be allowed to continue to
>>>>> offer Windows
>>>>> users "downgrade rights," enabling them to switch from Vista to XP
>>>>> on new
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I'm also a bit confused. The other Sunday I was watching NASCAR with a
>>>> neighbor and was considering bringing my laptop over after signing up
>>>> with their special service, which required a high end pc/laptop, so I
>>>> went to Dell and looked for laptops as it was about time for me to get
>>>> in shape, and they all seemed to come with Vista, but for $100 _more_
>>>> you could get a _downgrade_ to XP.
>>>>
>>>> Too weird for me. I closed the page.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> "Downgrade" is the operative word.
>>> But why would anyone pay $100 to "downgrade" anything?
>>> Are there that many stupid people out there?
>>
>>
>>
>> You don't have to pay to downgrade, it's part of the Vista business
>> license as it was part of the XP Professional license as it was part
>> of the Windows 2000 Professional license as it is and was part of
>> different Server versions. No one says you have to pay an OEM to do
>> this for you but it is up to you to supply the previous version
>> installation media and to make sure that drivers for the older version
>> are available for the new hardware, so sometimes paying the OEM may be
>> easier than doing it yourself or it may give the buyer a reassurance
>> that the hardware will work with the older operating system and that
>> it will be guaranteed and supported by the OEM.
>>
>> Why would business customers want downgrade rights? Perhaps if you
>> were administering several hundred or several thousand workstations
>> you might find that it is easier to maintain your machines if they all
>> have the same operating system. Or maybe you have specialized
>> applications or custom software that was designed to run on Windows XP
>> but that doesn't work so well on the newer Windows version, changing
>> the older or custom applications may not be a feasible option at this
>> particular time so you might instead exercise your downgrade rights,
>> for business customers this is not something that is as stupid as some
>> might think. As I said above, this is nothing new, it's been around
>> for a while and it is aimed at corporate clients, most people
>> misunderstand the purpose of the downgrade rights but if they so chose
>> to exercise it it is theirs to exercise if they buy business versions
>> of the operating system.
>>
>> John
>>
> Then obviously those saying it will cost $100 to "downgrade" are confused.
It may cost more because you have to buy a business version when maybe a
home version might be all that you need. What the OEMs decide to charge
to do the downgrade is up to them, but not all OEMs charge for this
service. Some OEMs will supply an XP Pro restoration disk free of
charge with their Vista Business machines, if the buyer wants to use XP
he simply has to do a factory restore to the XP version, I know that
Lenovo does this with their ThinkPads. So you're right, it doesn't
necessarily cost $100 to downgrade your machine, people are saying that
because that is what one of the large major OEM charges to do it for
their customers, people can shop elsewhere and see what other OEMs have
to offer.
John